Iraq reopened its main Al-Qaim crossing with Syria to refugees on Tuesday, after closing it for several weeks, but continued to deny entry to single men under 50, an Iraqi official said.

Amr al-Khafaji, a spokesman for the displacement and migration ministry, which oversees the refugee camp at Al-Qaim, told AFP that 150 people had crossed from Syria on Tuesday.

Syrian Christian opposition leader George Sabra is set to meet Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday as part of an international group of Christian-Democrats, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

Sabra, who is the main spokesman for the Syrian National Council, the main exiled opposition group, will be received with some 100 other Christian politicians from around the world, ANSA and Adnkronos news agencies reported.

The French Foreign Ministry stressed on Tuesday the importance of maintaining Lebanon and Syria's sovereignty and unity.

Spokesman Philippe Laleu said of claims that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards may be in Lebanon and Syria that Paris condemns all that can harm the sovereignty of either country.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday recent claims that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were present in Lebanon, saying that they have revealed “the true nature of forces that have claimed to have national affiliations.”

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The so-called Hizbullah arms are in fact Iranian and they threaten the national pact.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is to arrive on Wednesday in Damascus, where he will meet his counterpart, Walid Muallem and other officials, a Syrian government source said.

His visit comes on the heels a meeting in Cairo of the "contact group" on Syria -- grouping Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- and attended by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Monday evening.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cautioned on Tuesday that the Syrian crisis may lead to a regional conflict.

He warned that the crisis may also spread to Lebanon.

A group of Syrian refugees threw stones at U.N. peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's convoy on Tuesday as he left the Zaatari camp in Jordan where he pledged help despite the "worsening" conflict.

"Unfortunately, the situation in Syria is not likely to improve," Brahimi said during a brief visit to the camp in northern Jordan close to the Syrian border.

Saudi Arabia has barred Syrians from entering the country to perform the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage, Syrian state media said Tuesday, marking the latest break between the two Arab nations.

"The Syrian High Committee of hajj has announced the halt to the pilgrimage this year, due to a failure to reach consensus with the Saudi authorities," the official SANA news agency reported.

President Michel Suleiman demanded on Tuesday security agencies to join hands with a ministerial committee to locate the abductees inside and outside Lebanon.

Suleiman ordered the security agencies to set a comprehensive plan to find the location of the kidnapped Lebanese, set them free and detain the assailants at any price, the National News Agency reported.

The international peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi on Tuesday met Syrians staying at a Turkish refugee camp in his first encounter since taking over the mission from his frustrated predecessor.

The U.N.-Arab League envoy met representatives of some 1,300 Syrians at Altinozu camp in Hatay city, located on the border with their violence-racked homeland.